


Orochimaru's Nightmare

by goddamnitaisha



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Gen, Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 08:46:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10213853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddamnitaisha/pseuds/goddamnitaisha
Summary: (Oneshot) Orochimaru wakes up from an angsty nightmare and has a hard time calming himself down.





	

He wakes up crying. He wakes up bawling hot tears that ran down the side of his face, over his cheek bones, and into his ears. The pillow behind his head is wet too - he feels it when he sinks deeper under the covers and puts his face next to it. He doesn’t remember the dream, or, tells himself he doesn’t remember the dream. 

He lifts one shoulder to brush his tears away, but his shoulder doesn’t move. Worse, the cover slips off his shoulder, and now his torso can get cold. He would move his arm if he could. Then he would wipe these stupid tears away, and pull the covers all the way over his head. He tells himself he doesn’t remember the dream. 

The guards outside, can they hear him sob? Can they hear that snorting sound when he draws snot up his nose, or hear him gasp? The door should be thick enough to draw out most sounds, but it is night, and it is quiet, and they are (should be!) on high alert. 

He sits up, and the covers slip off him and flutter on his lap. He draws up his legs, and the fabric stretches over his knees. The great Kage of Otogakure bends over to awkwardly mash his face against the sheets in order to dry his cheeks. Kabuto checks up on him several times each night. Orochimaru never asked why he does it, and Kabuto never explained. He just does. A glance, no more. But sometimes, sometimes the assistant would close the door really loudly, and wake Orochimaru up from nightmares. Then he stands still for precisely a minute, and then he walks away. Only after that minute, Orochimaru dares to sob. 

He doesn’t want to be vulnerable. He doesn’t want to show it, so he internalizes it, shut it down. People say he’s a monster and maybe he is, but does that mean he is only the monster? Can’t he be any more? He had a history once, a family. He may have switched bodies, but he was still himself.

He had dreamt his parents hadn’t recognized him. 

“My lord?”

The door had opened, but Orochimaru hadn’t heard. Now he looked up, slowly, and his black hair fell over his eyes, creating shadows over his face. There was little light in the room - just enough to create a red shine over Kabuto’s glasses.

“Leave at once,” Orochimaru said, drawing out the s. It always happened when he was emotional, and the length of the S usually gave away how tensed or excited, or in this case, how much of a wreck he was. 

“Shall I pull the covers up before I do?” Kabuto asked. 

Bastard or angel? Orochimaru lay down, and when Kabuto approached from the right, he turned his face to the left. Kabuto tucked him in, like a father would to a son. 

In Orochimaru’s dream, he’d tried to hug his parents, but his arms had not moved. 

And the worst thing was, that if he couldn’t get the strength back in his arms…. he would never be able to perform the Edo Tensei, the resurrection technique he had been working on, to ask if they still recognized him.

Kabuto waited a minute behind the door, then left.


End file.
